#Like IKEA's BLÅVINGAD Orca

[don-dake]

Colorata Ocean Animals Series Plush: Killer Whale (シャチ)

#Came across this #Looking up orca stuff the other day #Like IKEA's BLÅVINGAD Orca #This is a more realistic rendition #Even has the saddle patch that's often forgotten in #Orca Plushies #Just cute to look at #Beyond my budget and #I'm already very satisfied with my IKEA one #Plushies #Colorata

[alice-makes-things]

Inspired by a conversation I recently had with friends, here is my “The JellyCat Orca Is Trans Masc and Non-Binary” theory.

(as you read this, bear in mind that I am neurodivergent and at the age of 6 my special interest was orcas)

If you’re not familiar with the JellyCat brand, they’re a British plush toy company that first became popular in the late 90s / early 00s but have recently skyrocketed in sales due to strong TikTok social media presence during the pandemic. They do cute and quirky plushes of everything from cute baby toys to stuffed animals to fruits and veggies to tacos and sushi. They’re all very soft and snuggly and a sensory delight. I’ve never owned one myself, because they’re extremely expensive, but if you enter any gift shop in this country there will be a JellyCat there somewhere.

Anyway, each of these toys are given a name and a little personality - think TY’s Beanie Babies, if you’re old enough to remember those. Anyway, enter Ollivander the Orca, who for the purposes of this post I will use he/they pronouns for:

I met Ollivander in a Blackheath gift shop a few months ago and was delighted by their existence but alas could not afford them. Now, for my theory.

Ollivander strikes me as a very masc-coded name. Like, it’s basically two traditionally male names smashed together (Oliver, Alexander), like somebody couldn’t decide between two names and just said screw it, why not both. The thing is, Ollivander has the ‘wrong’ markings for a male orca - compared to his body size, he has a small, curved dorsal fin, with no saddle markings at the base. Male orcas have tall, straight dorsal fins, with prominent grey saddle markings at the base (unless held prisoner by certain unethical US marine parks). Here’s a picture for comparison:

(for the orca nerds out there, I’m leaving out too many resident / transient orca dorsal fin comparisons here, because I think these are difficult to replicate in a stuffed animal; also Ollivander’s saddle markings are non-existent so there’s not much to compare there)

Compare Ollivander to Hamley’s Kai, or IKEA’s Blåvingad, who both have tall pointy dorsal fins, which indicate they are male:

Anyway, when my neurospicy self excitedly bounded up to the orca plush in the aforementioned gift shop, I was under the assumption Ollivander was a female orca - until I saw their name and description, which I believe is the same as on the JellyCat website:

There are no gendered pronouns in this label (which I love, because children should be able to gender their beloved toys however which way they like). So from then on, my own personal head canon became that Ollivander is a trans masc orca whale who couldn’t decide between the names Oliver and Alexander, and they use he/they pronouns. I love them and can never afford them, lol.

Anyway thank you for indulging my silly neurodivergent rant about orca plushies and their various gender identities.

#orca #Ollivander the orca #jellycat #neurodivergent #gender identity #trans masc #non binary

[tiredtommie]

I feel like the lgbtqia community should just make all the ikea plushies their mascots

Like, trans people already have Blåhaj

The non-binary can have Blåvingad orcas

The bisexuals with the Djungleskog pandas

I feel like the pansexuals would like the Blåvingad octopus

Something about the Gosig Golden screams lesbian

And I feel like the mlms/gays would fit Jåttestor or the Livlig husky

#lgbtqia #lgbtq community #lgbtq #ikea #ikea shark #ikea plushies #lgbtqiia+ #lgbtqplus #transgender #bisexual #nonbinary #pansexual #lesbian #gay #mlm #tommie talks

[zyuna-arts]

💙 UNDER THE SEA 💙

Had the idea for a long time of drawing all my current Ikea plushies in an underwater scene and finally did so while at work ✨ Kept it deliberately stylised and simple and I'm thinking of turning it into prints 👀

Second image is a collage I made using my own photos of the plushies featured in the artwork 🐟 Background is a photograph of the sunset sky at sea I took in December 2022 during a cruise trip 👁️ The hamster on the trio of Kosig Mus in the photo collage was my lil gremlin Storm, who passed away in April 2020. He was already an elderly ham when that photo was taken but still acted like a youngun full of energy 🔥

I got Kosig Mus as a 'rat family' a long time ago in the 2000s/pre-2010s. Mine came with all three mouse tails tied together in a knot and each mouse was sewn together by the paws so they can't be separated. I liked them a lot as a kid!

Fast forward to the present time and Blåhaj took the world by storm - I was no exception to their appeal. However, I chanced upon a small grey dolphin named Genomblot that was on sale and bought one for myself and some friends, later finding out this design had been discontinued. Afterwards I got the large Blåhaj variant and searched everywhere for the smaller ones until an outlet stocked them 👀

Blåvingad was my latest addition to my Ikea plushies and is the name given to a collection of children's products based on various sea creatures. My bed is now occupied by only sea creature plushies and I had to evict previous occupants like a large Shiba Inu plush and a cafe/butler Alpacasso I got from gacha machines 😔🙏

NAMES: 🦈Blåhaj (100cm): Finn 🦈Blåhaj (55cm): Finn Jr. 🐬 Genomblot: Wave 🐼🐬 Blåvingad (orca): Manta

Finn and Wave are shark and dolphin characters in a childhood comic I made called Dolphin Island, while Manta was inspired by the stingray-like monsters in Code Lyoko called Mantas!

SOCIALS: Linktree

Art © zyuna

(DON’T REPOST/USE MY ART & OCS)

#zyuna arts #reblogs are appreciated #ikea plushies #blahaj #blavingad #kosig mus #genomblot #ikea shark #I didn't want to retake photos just to show all the plushies so I made a collage using existing pictures #chocolate cake cameo in case blahaj gets hungry #Manta and Finn Jr are a couple now it seems

[earhartsease]

they should film a queer high school drama in an ikea and call it Blaw High - just to confuse everyone the school mascot is blåvingad and they're like "goooooo orcas!!!"

#blåhaj

[don-dake]

For just 5cm more…the price discrepancy!

Part of the reason that's making me hesitate over BLÅVINGAD Orca…and I can personally attest too, I think smol BLÅHAJ has a nicer pelt and has more charm!

Another reason for hesitation, I already have this guy here:

And I love him very, very much and a part of me is saying “one is enough”…

BUT an orca plush more like the IKEA one had been a childhood wish of mine that, for various reasons, never got fulfilled.

Now that one is within my grasp, would I be silly to pass it up? Would I regret big time when it eventually sells out/retires?

Since I can't decide and I have polls now, time to put that to good use! Heh!

#Yes I'm a physical adult but mentally…that's up for debate! #I still love my #Plushies #And I can't make decisions like this #Polls #Dake Polls #IKEA Shark #IKEA Orca #BLÅHAJ #BLÅVINGAD #Blahaj #Blavingad #Orca Plushies #Nemu Nemu

[don-dake]

Finally got to taking a 全家福 (family portrait) of my *Fish Fam. a while back, posting it here for safe-keeping too.

*Technically, one of them isn't a fish, but I just think ‘Fish Fam.’ has a nice ring to it (and since the term ‘Blackfish’ can be used to describe an orca too…).

#And now that #George #Has a sharky bro…poor #Bili #Seems a little lonely all by himself #Should I get him a pal too? #I'm still two minds about the IKEA BLÅVINGAD orca… #Like I said before…I think it lacks the charm of #BLÅHAJ #Blahaj #IKEA Shark #Though I really love orcas too #And since I already have Bili… #But then again I did buy #Porgy #Even when I already had Georgy! Heh! #Perhaps I'll Poll that? Heh! #Merch #My Snapshots #Nemu Nemu